Have you ever wondered what a workplace designed for women and run by women would look like? Cheryl Eisen, Founder and CEO of Interior Marketing Group (IMG) a multi-million-dollar interior design company, set out to create this type of organization. At IMG women make up 75 percent of the employee population and 76 percent of the entire leadership team across the organization. Eisen says empowering women to be managers, whether in a male-dominated industry or not is very important.

It is not just women who benefit from more inclusive workplace practices. Research by the consulting firm Accenture, finds that men are two times more likely, to rise to senior management positions in cultures that support equality. In this interview, Eisen shares three things business can do to create work environments that support women to thrive.

Be intentional about your culture

Eisen says the culture of an organisation determines how easy it is to attract talented women into the organization and keep them there. “Build culture of growth and support. We tout that we're this fempire. We are women managers and we are women employees, I think that really helps in being emphatic in terms of how we deal with each other,” she says.

Eisen believes that IMG’s culture is different because allows employees to be themselves at work. “There is some level of comfort and relaxation in working with women. Women bosses relate to women employees differently than male bosses relate to women employees and vice versa. I feel like this makes our culture really empowering,” she says.

Hire people who fit the culture

IMG is a female dominated environment and even male managers at the highest level are managed by women. This is something Eisen is very comfortable with. “We certainly interview men who come in to become part of the company. We just consider people based on their qualifications, experience and whether they will fit into our culture or not ,” she says. Eisen argues that men from male-dominated industries, like finance, might find it difficult to work in IMG’s culture because it is so different from typical work environments. “We are all a little freer to express ourselves in terms of our needs and feelings. This gives us a level of autonomy and empowerment,” she says.

Maintain the culture by advancing employees

As employees come and go, maintaining the workplace culture can be a never-ending job. To overcome this challenge Eisen focuses on developing women’s career paths. “Many of the people who join our company start as interns and they learn at every part of our business – step by step. Then they grow into a role they feel like they can spearhead.”

To support individual career planning Eisen has implemented a one on one mentoring program for all employees. “Once an intern starts they are mentored by the people who are at the next level of management (above them). Managers at that level are mentored by the female managers above them. We also rotate. So, we are all mentoring each other.” She says this hands-on approach to development ensures all employees understand the future of the company and how they contribute to that.

Eisen maintains that developing and promoting women should not only be a feature of smaller organizations. “I think statistically it shows that women are less likely to be promoted into management roles in large organizations than men are. I think if you change that and give women opportunities to grow they'll thrive.” Eisen believes the lack of career development is one of the main reasons why there are so few women leaders in large corporations today. Given the resources larger organizations have, Eisen says there is no reason they shouldn’t be able to support women’s development in the same way her organization has.